Following the thread on the "figure drawing without a model"-book, what approach do you use for drawing when you dont have a model or other reference? Primitives, stick-figures, "the marvel way" etc what? Personally I find it very difficult to visualize a natural looking pose right out of my head... Maybe I just need to practice more?

Yes, unfortunately you won't get this ability in any other way than to practice a whole freaking lot.
What helps is studying human anatomy (read anatomy books), if you know the bones and muscles underneath the skin it's easier to imagine the shapes that the skin builds around them.
Also, draw as many pictures of humans as possible using reference such as photos. This also helps to get a feel for anatomy.
Another way would be doing a reference-free anatomy sketch, then looking at reference to notice and correct any faults you did in drawing the body.

Hope that helps,

-bugscratch

[This message has been edited by Bugscratch (edited January 11, 2001).]

Thanks, but...
In my experience knowlegde of anatomy is not enough (while necessary, ofcourse) to draw people in natural looking poses.. You have to start out with some kind of simplified shapes.. I've tried many different methods for this, and i havent found one I'm comfortable with yet, thou im beginning to think that more figure drawing is what I need.. The intention of my post was to ask other people how they do this.

Rough in general movement first, if it's a figure, and literally go from there. The initial response to your original post was in no way incorrect. You learn by doing. Studying an anatomy book, or drawing from life, etc, is not skipping any step essential steps... they are essential. These are natural ingredients of proper abilities. Simply drawing what shapes where doesn't solve this, you don't begin with a line, you begin with what you want your line to say... which translates to, "what do i know, and how am i going to communicate that?"

I'd go into this more, but,
A. you don't wanna hear me babbling
B. i have to leave right now :P

there's 2 main skills to master: anatomy and posing. the key with anatomy is to portray the forms, while the key with posing is to portray a certain movement or activity.

the best way to learn this is by drawing from a live model, because you get a degree of both skills in every drawing you make. quick studies focus more on movement, while longer studies focus on structure and anatomy. once you've done a TON of drawings from a live model, hopefully you can apply that to drawing from the imagination.

yes, without a visual reference, practice is the best way to go. i find a lot of people are too impatient to learn without a model by practice. the more you practice from you head the more realistic your art becomes and your style continues to develop.